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Hello Guys! I am seriously considering auditioning for the youtube symphony orchestra. I have a question though. I am trying to decide on which piece to play for the general talent video.


These are the two pieces I had in mind:

Mozart Sonata K 332 in F- Movement 3- Allegro Assai
Debussy Prelude- Minstrels

Which is better to audition with?

Well, that's probably one of the more "showy" Mozart movements out there. I'm planning on competing with it soon in an all classical competition. I would suggest that.

But which do you think you play better?

Matt

They have a list of pieces that you have to choose from on their channel. Go to the second step of the submission process, it's in there. Good luck, I'm doing it, too.

those are reccomended pieces not requried :p

Really? Awesome

Weren't there pieces that were a MUST by composer Tan Dun? That was the reason I dismissed this competition. I may be wrong though. It seemed like a way to only promote his music, and that seemed unfair.

Yes, there are two videos required. One is the piano part for the symphony which you are to record following Tan Dun's conducting.

(This, obviously, is to make sure that you can follow a conductor and learn the orchestral part.)

The second video is a classical work of your choice, and they recommend several pieces. From the looks of it, they're not so much interested in the difficulty level (after all, if you can play the Tan Dun piece, then you can handle the concert.) But they are interested in people who can play and interpret classical scores. In other words, it looks like they're trying to weed out people who would audition with "Piano Man" or playing one of those dime-a-dozen new age pieces where you wrap arpeggios around a chord progression and stick a half note melody on top.

Oh, and I'm just guessing, but my sense is that the first video will be far more important than the second.

They're looking to fill a position for a live performance with a real live conductor, so if you can't follow Tan Dun, you won't get the gig.

My other guess is that they're wanting to showcase youtube, so the quality and presentation of the video and audio may also be important.

mind if I quote you? I could never explain why I dislike these bloody pieces, Yanni's hair non-withstanding. Now I can sound semi-erudite instead of simply biased..

Go right ahead.

It's not that I dislike "New Age" music, it's that I dislike *bad* "New Age" music, and unfortunately, there seems to be a LOT of that on YouTube.

I'm not saying people shouldn't experiment and improvise on obvious chord progressions - that's exactly how I got started composing. (You should've heard the trite crap I used to fiddle with in High School - I sounded like bad John Tesh, and THAT'S saying something.)

But for the purposes of an audition, even a YouTube audition, you need to put a best foot forward and show some kind of professional and artistic promise. (And I hope the YouTube symphony does exactly that.)

well Kreisler, it is too late to back off or away from your heartfelt statement, though I would suggest you get ready for some heat from the fans at ABF..

On this note, can you direct me to an example of "good" New Age music? (don't name Monica's italian dude, that would be conflict of interest!)

I was going to audition for it but the piece by Tan Dun is so boring that i don't know if i'll bother.

Suzanne Ciani, George Winston, Yann Tiersen.

Yup, I also got discouraged from doing that because of Tan Dun's piece. I am a new member btw!